Michael Schumacher is in critical condition and has been placed in a coma as a result of a head injury he suffered while skiing in the French Alps on Sunday.

Although initial reports stated that Schumacher’s injury was not life threatening, the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble released a statement Sunday night stating Schumacher’s condition has since worsened.

The statement declared Schumacher’s condition as critical and said he was in a coma. It went on to say that the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion suffered “head trauma with coma, which required immediate neurosurgical treatment.”

Schumacher fell while skiing off-piste (unmarked slopes) in the French Meribel Resort and hit his head on a rock. Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, director of the Meribel Resort, confirmed just after the accident that Schumacher had been wearing a helmet and was “conscious but a little agitated.”

Schumacher was airlifted to a local hospital less than 15 minutes after the accident. The 44-year-old was then transferred to the Grenoble facility where he underwent immediate brain surgery, officials said in a written statement.

Top neurosurgeon and a close friend of Schumacher, doctor Gerard Saillant, was brought to the Grenoble hospital in a police car to the retired Formula 1 driver.